MSI signs €2.45 million agreement with EU to deliver services in Viet Nam and Cambodia
Hanoi – Marie Stopes International (MSI) and the European Union (EU) have just signed a €2.45 million (US$3.6 million) project to help improve the sexual and reproductive health of poor rural communities in Viet Nam and Cambodia.
The project, which begins in January 2010 and will run for three years, will strengthen the capacity of State and non-State providers of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services in southern Vinh Long and central Thua Thien-Hue provinces in Viet Nam, and the Svay Rieng and Ratanakiri provinces in Cambodia increasing the accessibility and quality of SRH services for remote and rural populations in those provinces.
Under the project, the management and co-ordination of those services at a grassroots level will also be improved and partnerships and networks strengthened. A voucher scheme will also be piloted in the Vietnamese provinces. The EU has provided most (€1.8million) of the funding for the project with MSI and ATLANTIC Philanthropies (Viet Nam) Limited providing the remainder.
Dirk Meganck, Director for Asia of the EuropeAid Office of the European Commission, said, "The project aims to set up a new public-private partnership model in a number of poor provinces in Viet Nam and Cambodia to ensure that quality reproductive healthcare services will be delivered to the people in an affordable and sustainable way."
He added, the project will also try to reduce poverty by improving people’s SRH and women’s maternal health.
Hang Bich Nguyen, MSI Viet Nam’s Programme Director signed the contract with the EU on behalf of MSI at the signing ceremony held in Hanoi. Speaking to Opendoor shortly after the ceremony Hang said, “This is an important project for us, not least because of the new partnership with the EU. MSI in Viet Nam is very much looking forward to delivering on this project through close collaboration with our partners, MSI Cambodia and the governments of both Viet Nam and Cambodia.”
Che Katz, MSI Cambodia’s Programme Director who was also at the ceremony, echoed these sentiments saying, “By testing new ways of delivering critical services to those in need and sharing the findings between its partners, MSI will be well placed to increase its impact in the region.”